Allofmp3 clones, Baidu top US list of “notorious” IP infringers

Not satisfied with the release of its regular "Section 301" list of …

The document in question admits that one of the scofflaws mentioned no longer exists. And the anti-piracy survey concedes that another, Taobao, is making real efforts to improve. But that didn't stop the United States Trade Representative from putting these Internet sites on its new "Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets," released on Monday.

"The review we are announcing today shines a light on examples of many offending markets, and highlights an opportunity to work together with our trading partners to curb illicit trade and expand legitimate commerce in creative and innovative industries," declared USTR's Ron Kirk upon the report's release.

Other miscreants include IsoHunt, The Pirate Bay, Demonoid, and BtJunkie. The compendium also includes a variety of interesting physical locations around the world, from Mexico to Indonesia.

Why is this rogue's list "out-of-cycle"? Normally the US Trade Rep publishes the survey as part of its "Special 301" procedure. That's a section of a 1994 international agreement which says that the USTR "must identify those countries that deny adequate and effective protection for IPR or deny fair and equitable market access for persons that rely on intellectual property protection."

But this new review doesn't focus on countries so much as specific websites and places that have marketing practices that the USTR and its big content supporters don't approve of. The survey "reflects an effort to further expose these markets," it notes, yet concedes that the list "does not purport to reflect findings of legal violations."

So what does it purport to do? Growl and throw the government's rhetorical weight around, as far as we can tell. Here are some of the alleged global scofflaws the report targets.

Allofmp3 "clones"

"While the Russia-based allofmp3 (formerly the world’s largest server-based pirate music website) was shut down in 2007," the survey notes, "nearly identical sites have taken its place." The Recording Industry Association of America sued the company's owner, Mediaservices Inc., in 2006. But the USTR document doesn't mention any of the replacements by name.

Taobao

The USTR report classifies the Chinese website Taobao as a "business-to-business" or "business-to-consumer" venue that has been "cited by industry" as offering infringing products (cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, sporting goods), "while maintaining intellectual property policies that are inconsistent with industry norms."

And yet the document concedes that Taobao has made "significant efforts to address the availability of infringing goods through its website." But, "it still has a long way to go in order to resolve those problems."

In addition these shortfalls, "Taobao recently ranked in the 15 most visited sites in the world, and in the five most visited sites in China," the survey observes.

Baidu

Baidu, perhaps China's most popular website, is a "deep linking" venue, USTR warns. Marketers generally define deep linking as pointing a hyperlink to a specific image or page on a site besides its home page. Baidu's links direct to "allegedly infringing materials, often stored on third-party hosting sites," the report says.

BitTorrent baddies

All the usual suspects are mentioned. In addition to Canada's IsoHunt and The Pirate Bay, there are Kickasstorrents, Torrentz, and tracker sites like Rutracker, openbittorrent, zumunda and Publicbt.

The list also cites TV Ants ("Watch TV channels from around the world free on your PC") and smartphone app site 91.com, reportedly responsible for for "more than half of all downloaded applications in China."

Physical markets

Perhaps the most interesting section of the document is its list of actual, real-people places that allegedly buy and sell infringed goods. Dare we confess that these actually sound like interesting places to visit:

Bahia Market (Guayaquil, Ecuador) This expansive market of at least 1,000 vendors sells large quantities of illicit goods, many of which are either counterfeit products or goods stolen from the Guayaquil port.

China Small Commodities Market (Yiwu, China) The China Small Commodities Market in Yiwu reportedly sells mostly consumer goods. The market has been cited as a center for wholesaling of infringing goods, making this market the origin of many counterfeit goods available internationally.

Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) In Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, the city’s economy is based in part on the trafficking of counterfeit and infringed goods, with a particular emphasis on electronic goods. This activity spills over into the entire Tri-Border Region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, creating a hotbed of piracy and counterfeiting.

"The United States urges the responsible authorities to intensify efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets, and to use the information contained in the Notorious Markets List to pursue legal action where appropriate," the report concludes.

Matthew Lasar
Matt writes for Ars Technica about media/technology history, intellectual property, the FCC, or the Internet in general. He teaches United States history and politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Emailmatthew.lasar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@matthewlasar